The present invention relates to an automotive seat track assembly and, more particularly, to an integral seat frame and track.
In known seat track assemblies, a base rail assembly is affixed to the floor of a vehicle. A slide assembly comprising complementary tracks is positioned with the base rails so as to be moveable forwardly and rearwardly along the base rails. A seat frame comprising side members joined by cross members is mounted to the slide assembly to enable the seat to be moved with the slide assembly. The seat frame includes seat back supports to which the seat back is mounted. The seat frame is a fairly heavy reinforced structural assembly as it must support seat back loads which occur during a vehicle collision. The seat frame also receives seat support members which usually comprise springs stretched across the seat frame members. The combination of the slide assembly and the seat frame is fairly complex and costly to manufacture and is, in most embodiments, a fairly heavy assembly. It is always a design criteria for automobiles to decrease weight wherever possible and especially where no decrease in strength or service life accompanies such decrease in weight.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide seat track assembly of simplified design and decreased weight having an integral seat frame and track.